The third-largest home crowd in Sharks history saw the same result as the other two did, a disappointing loss on Saturday night, this time to the Providence Bruins, 3-2.

The 9,055 saw an excellent game — fast, dramatic, skilled and one of the best of the year — but the ultimate result was one that has become remarkably common recently. The teams have played six times this season and Providence has won every one, with Worcester earning one point via a shootout loss.

"It was a hell of a hockey game," coach Roy Sommer said. "Up and down the ice, good power plays, we came back in the third period, but it wasn't good enough to get the final two points. Our margin of error is like 'this.'?"

The key error was a turnover by Nick Petrecki midway through the third period. He had the puck behind the Worcester net and had it knocked off his stick by Bobby Robins. Anthony Camara passed it to Alexander Khochlachev right in front and Harri Sateri had no chance.

The goal, at 9:08, was the final one of the game even though the Sharks stormed Malcolm Subban in the closing minutes.

"That goalie made some great saves," Sommer said.

Subban improved his record vs. Worcester this year to 5-0-0. He is 2-6-2 against the rest of the league.

Travis Oleksuk was one of the Sharks Subban robbed a couple of times.

"He's an acrobatic goalie," Oleksuk said, "and we've got to be able to lift the puck on him, put it over him when he's on the ground."

Both Worcester goals came on the power play. Dan DaSilva had one and Sena Acolatse the other. Konrad Abeltshauser had assists on both.

Nick Johnson scored twice for Providence, getting his 15th and 16th of the season. Ben Youds had a pair of assists.

The game got off to an ominous start for the Sharks as Justin Florek had a breakaway off the opening faceoff. He got in deep on Sateri and Sateri made the stop five seconds into the first period.

The Sharks recovered from that early mistake pretty well, though, and had the better of the scoring chances for the next six or seven minutes. Yanni Gourde had two of them, cutting in on Subban twice with the puck winding up over the net as he tried to go high.

James Livingston created a great chance for himself at 5:20 as he came out of the corner and was robbed by Subban from the bottom of the circles. A little more than a minute later, though, Worcester had the lead.

Youds was in the penalty box for Providence after a slashing call and the Sharks scored nine seconds after he went in at 6:36. DaSilva took a pass from Abeltshauser and drilled a slap shot past Subban from the top of the right circle.

The first period ended at 1-0, but the Bruins took the lead with a dominant second period.

Johnson got his first goal at 4:19, whacking a rebound of Youds' shot from the right point past Sateri. At 15:21, those two Bruins combined again, this time on a power play. Youds slid a low shot towards Sateri from the left point and Johnson, his back to the net, scored on a diagonal re-direct.

Worcester got its second power play of the night 52 seconds into the third period when Florek was called for tripping. This time, Acolatse took advantage of the man advantage by collecting a pass from DaSilva and beating Subban with a slapper from 40 feet.

Thanks to their success vs. the Sharks, the Bruins are in second place in the Atlantic Division. Providence is, as mentioned, 6-0-0 against Worcester. It is a .500 team against the rest of the league at 16-16-6.

But the standings don't ask who the victories are against, just how many there are.